Campground Searching and A Long Nap

From Usery Mountain Regional Park, Mesa, AZ

Superstition Mountains at sunrise.

I had planned to leave early this morning to go and get groceries at Walmart. I was going to drive myself. I haven't been driving because it was my right foot that I sprained so this would be my first time out in over two weeks. However at the last minute, Gordon decided to go and we thought we'd go to Gold Canyon and check out some places to stay after we leave here on January 10th.

Our first stop was Canyon Vistas, a really perfect 55+ park, with perfect little sites a with a perfect little concrete patio. The landscaping was perfect, it had perfect little craft rooms and so forth and we can use Passport America for the first week. The people were all very friendly. I talked to a lady in the laundry room and a lady that was in the stained glass/pottery room and 2 ladies in the library and they were all very nice. I'm looking for a place where I can get laundry done and get some books when we leave here. This place had both a nice laundry room and a big library.

Our next stop was Gold Canyon RV & Golf. Another perfect RV/park model 55+ park but I asked for a spot for a couple of weeks and the lady said they were booked. We decided that this probably wasn't a place for short term stays.

The problem with these parks is the lack of nature and natural settings. We've gotten spoiled lately with the parks that we've found, most of them being out in nature.

There was another park on my list called Budget RV Park (no website) that claimed to be close to Lost Dutchman State Park. It's not and we happened across it by accident. This is indeed a budget park with people crammed together like sardines. No thanks.

We then started to go to Walmart, realized it was Saturday around noon and decided to go home and come back tomorrow as there was nothing that I needed urgently.

This afternoon was a complete waste. I lay down to read while Gordon was taking a nap at woke up at 3:45 p.m. I kept dreaming that I was awake! We had planned to go out for a drive this afternoon so now I don't have much in the way of photos for the blog. Consequently I'm doing something I haven't done for a long time and borrowing some from Gordon.


Bulldog CliffsThe flower of the ocotillo
Hummingbird
I didn't wrap my foot today and it seems none the worse for it. I'm wondering if the bone on the side of my foot is just bruised now.......

Results of "I've Been Tagged"

From Usery Mountain Regional Park, Mesa, AZ.

Yesterday I mentioned that I had been tagged by Froggi Donna but didn't have time to think about it yesterday so I've finally gotten it done today.

So, here are the rules again:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Share the 5 top places on your "want to see or want to see again" list.
   
4. Tag a minimum of 5, maximum of 10 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my lists.

Random/Weird facts about me:

1. I met my husband through an ad in the newspaper.
2. I don’t like crossing bridges especially in the dark.
3. I don’t like mountain roads with switchbacks and sheer drop offs.
4. I have a fear of heights so you won't find me in a cable car any time soon.
   
5. I, like Froggi. won't put my head underwater when swimming or what I call swimming as I never really learned to swim very well.
   

Top 5 Seen/See Again list - there are so many beautiful places it's hard to choose:

1. Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, TX - This is an awesome place to spend some time in nature. Beware the 10% grade in and out of the park.
   
2. Oregon Coast - A very beautiful part of the western U.S.
   
3. Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta - We didn't make it to Jasper but would like to go back.
   
4. Texas Coastal Bend north of Corpus Christi, TX - We've been here a few times but always enjoy returning.
5. The eastern and southern shores of Lake Superior in Ontario, hopefully we'll be back to photograph them this summer.

The following are those I've tagged:

1. Carolyn & John - Travels in our Airstream ( a fellow Canadian)
2. Doug & JoAnn - Our Dream
3. Rod & Jean - Our Adventure
4. Kev & Angie - Kev's Blog
5. Pepper - Little House on Wheels
   

Hope those I've tagged are up to the challenge! This is a fun and interesting way to review yourself and where you've been.

We weren't very ambitious today so we lazed around all morning. Around noon we went for a brief walk, then I sat outside for a while but it was till pretty cool outside. Here are some photos taken on our walk and some from my lawn chair. Late in the afternoon we made it out to get propane, quite a difference in price from Tucson, from $17.50 to $23.27 to fill a 30 lb tank.

This is a phainopepla - he has the same crest as a cardinal or a Northern bluejay.

View from my lawnchair.

Photo taken on our way back from getting propane.

Here's a photo that Doug posted on their blog last night of Gordon and I with Fillmore. I borrowed it.

Tucson to Mesa, AZ

I've been tagged by Froggi Donna. Below are the rules. But since today is travel day, I'll have to delay this for another day or so. I also have to think about what's weird about me. I can't think of a thing! LOL

So, here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Share the 5 top places on your "want to see or want to see again" list.
   
4. Tag a minimum of 5, maximum of 10 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

On to our travel day:

I couldn’t help Gordon pack up much this morning because of the probability of twisting my foot on the rocks that were all over our site at Justin’s Diamond J RV Park so it took longer than usual to get packed up.

We didn’t leave Tucson till around 10:30 a.m. We took a backroad way to I-10 to avoid the construction through Tucson and wound up north of the construction area. We thought we were home free till we were about 6 miles south of the 202 loop at Phoenix when the traffic started to back up. It took forever to go three miles. There was an accident but it was all in the median area so no reason for the backup other than rubbernecking. The new 202 loop is a very nice road. Here’s the overpass that was being built when we were in Mesa two years ago. This construction was very close to the SilverRidge RV park where we were staying, and we could see and hear them working on it.

The 202 loop road.
Pretty overpass.

The overpass that was being built two years ago.


I’m really not sure what time we arrived at Usery Mountain Regional Park but it was definitely after 1:30 p.m. There was a note for us at the check in booth saying we were invited for late lunch/early dinner with Doug and JoAnn who are friends of Howard and Linda of rv-dreams.com. Their standard poodle, Fillmore is the official mascot of rv-dreams.com. Here is a photo that I took of Fillmore as we were leaving. Fillmore is a big, friendly playful dog.

Here’s the Phoenix sign that is clearly visible from Usery Mountain Regional Park.

I was able to help Gordon set up as the gravel on our site is the small pea gravel type so I wasn’t afraid that I was going to twist my ankle on it. Here’s a photo of our site. We’re not backing on the desert but it’s a pretty spot all the same and called a pull through although I would call it a pullout.

We finally arrived at Doug and JoAnn’s RV sometime around 4:00 p.m. We still weren’t completely set up but the rest can wait until tomorrow and we had kept these folks waiting far too long.

JoAnne made a delicious vegetable stew with quinoa and gluten free crackers. It was very yummy! I ate two bowls! Here’s a photo of our hosts.

Our Last Trip to the Desert Museum (for a while)

Even though yesterday was Christmas Day, I got a lot accomplished. I hadn't vacuumed since my unfortunate accident with my foot (except for the dustbuster) so I did a vacuum job, we changed the sheets on the bed to the new red/burgundy stripe and I made the stuffing, turnips and turkey cutlets.

I called my sister's house in Ottawa mid afternoon to be sure everyone was there and talked to everyone on speaker. Here are some photos that my niece sent from their Christmas yesterday.

My niece, Danica (who sent me the photos) and my sister, Betty.

My sister Margie and her husband, John.

My nephew and godson, Nick and his wife, Becky.

My foot has been steadily getting better over the last few days probably thanks to my husband who suggested I should keep it wrapped which I've been doing during the day taking the wrap off at night.

This morning I got the laundry done as we'll be in a Regional Park for probably two weeks that won't have any laundry facilities and this afternoon we went to the Desert Museum. We didn't walk far and mostly stayed on the paved areas but saw a lot of birds today so that's the gist of the photos for today although I do have a couple of others of cactus and plants.

I had seen Santa on a bicycle the other night but it was too dark for a photo so here he is:


My guess on this one is a female cardinal.

I think this is a pigeon of some sort.


This is a common moorhen. I don't know why they're called common. They're actually kind of pretty.

A black-necked stilt.
A parrot of some sort.
More black-necked stilts.
Another female cardinal.

A little hummingbird, not sure what kind but appeared mostly green.

A little fox happily sleeping.

Yucca plants.
A pretty little desert scene with red rocks.

An agava plant.
A deformed saguaro cactus.That's it for today. Tomorrow we'll be leaving this lovely spot and heading for Usery Mountain Regional Park near Mesa, AZ.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Today will be a day of cooking, eating and cleaning up so I thought I'd post this morning.

We had a Merry Christmas phone call from Gordon's daughter, Michelle this morning and this afternoon I will be calling my sister's place in Ottawa where the rest of the family have gathered for Christmas.

I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone and thank you all for getting my hits over 10,000 before the end of the year!

A Beautiful Christmas Eve Day

This was another bright sunny beautiful day with a high of 70F (21C). This morning I got up about 1/2 hour later than usual. It was just too warm and cozy under my electric blanket and I could hear the furnace running so I knew it was still cold.

This morning passed uneventfully with interneting and reading. This afternoon I decided to try to go for a walk with my foot wrapped so put on my velcro sandals (with socks which I usually hate) and headed down to the office as I could see the owner was there and I wanted to tell him that we're leaving on Thursday and find out how we were to pay our electric bill. I found out that it's .22/kwh here. YIKES! With the cold weather we've had our electric heater has been running a lot of days non stop so we're going to be in for a big bill! He also told me that when we come back our site will be reduced to $427 ($395 + tax) + electric. We paid $449 + electric
for this month. The reduction is because we're a returning customer. So we'll be paying the same amount as they pay up front except our site has a view and a beautiful back yard.

When I came back I sat outside and read and enjoyed the scenery and the birds for about an hour then came in to make cornbread and boil some potatoes so I have a head start on the Cornbread Stuffing for tomorrow.

This little house finch sat with me for a long time in the cholla next to me.


It was a pretty quiet day overall. Sure glad it warmed up!

We went out for sunset for what I thought was going to be a short trip but turned out to be a two hour drive so everything is late tonight!

Mountains at sunset on our drive tonight.

Grocery Shopping, Sunset and Moon Rise

Only 33F (-0.5C) this morning at 8:00 a.m. Should have gone to Florida! Miami is to be 79F (26C) today with a low tonight of 65F (18C).

Just lazed around again this morning doing not much of anything.

This afternoon we went out for groceries and since this is the weekend before Christmas we decided to go to the Walmart Neighborhood Grocery. This is basically a Walmart without the Superstore but unlike Canada the Neighborhood Groceries have only groceries and a pharmacy including cosmetics, hair supplies and everything else you'd see in your basic pharmacy but no clothes, shoes, toys etc. Having said all that, although the store was not crowded, I wasn't impressed. Maybe others feel the same way and that's why it wasn't crowded. There were a few things that I get quite regularly that the Supercenter always has that they didn't have here. Oh, well, I just wanted to see it and compare to the Supercenter.



On our way over we stopped in a nearby housing development and took photos of the southwestern architecture. I really love the building styles and the fences made out of abode as well. It is really funny to drive into a housing development and the first thing you see is a paddock of horses. After all we are in the southwest!





We reached a sunny high of 61F (16C) today. That wasn't bad but still not Florida's temperatures!

I'll leave you this evening with a photo of this evening's sunset and the evening sun shining on the mountains as well as the moon rising over Golden Gate Mountain and the sunset reflecting on the RV.